- Poetry
Kenneth Pobo - The 1935 Waupaca “Lady” Calendar, Howard Clock
The 1935 Waupaca “Lady” Calendar
Coy, holding roses,
unemployment 20.1%,
her bare shoulders,
Is she waiting for someone--
or waiting for Goodman’s swing?
Behind squares
offering dates.
If you need cash,
play Monopoly,
Be a landlord on a board.
She has a story.
No one asks to hear it.
Fully visible, she keeps
hidden in Wisconsin,
failing farms,
housewives churning butter,
sweat in graying hair.
Howard Clock
Wind roughs up
lake water. An eagle
heads for a pine
on the opposite shore.
The tree must
welcome her.
Water, calm down.
It’s like a silver
Howard clock,
cord broken,
yet time pushes
deep into my living
room.

Kenneth Pobo has a new book out called Dindi Expecting Snow (Duck Lake Books). His work has appeared or will appear in: North Dakota Quarterly, Mudfish, Hawaii Review, Amsterdam Review, and elsewhere.